


The Runaways

by son_c



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:34:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22048696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/son_c/pseuds/son_c
Summary: I added a backstory to one of my favourite station 19 friendships. Read on to see who! It could potentially be canon, but I doubt it. Also, can you find the obvious Grey's Easter egg?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	The Runaways

7-year-old Victoria wedged a finger in her ear to lower the volume of the shouting and grasped one of the wooden bars that decorated the staircase as they argued. She could clearly see everything that played out because, as usual, her parents had left the living room door wide open, so intent on just tearing each other apart they didn't have time to think that she could be watching.

"I cannot believe you Marian, do you know how badly Victoria wanted you to go to her class assembly! But no, you abandon her for what? Grace Milworth, you say, but I think that you were with him!" Her father spat out the last sentence, a horrific snarl etched across his face. Victoria tensed up. She hated when they fought about her, but she knew from experience there was nothing she could do. And she hated mention of 'him.' That meant it was really bad. And this was the fifth argument this week. 

"How dare you accuse me of, what, adultery, Evan! He is my friend, get it into your messed up brain of yours! As for the play, Grace had a family crisis, and it's not as if you couldn't go. Oh wait, that's right, you've never been sober enough to be a half decent parent!" Tori wasn't sure what 'sober' meant, but that seemed to hit her Dad hard. He almost went soft for a second. 

"It's not like you're a good Mum, Mari! You're awful! Always prioritizing others over your own flesh and blood!" His fierce and terrifying tone returned in a harsh roar. 

She didn't want to agree with Dad when he was like this, but Mum was never there. Ever. Dad was there, dazed and with a bottle, but at least he always showed up when he could. Except the class assembly, but that was only cause he thought Mum was going. Her Mum appeared to realize this too, because she crumpled into a heap on the floor and wept. She just broke down. This was the second time Tori had seen Mum cry, and she doesn't like it. It makes her have a funny, upset feeling in her stomach. 

"Evan," she says inbetween tears, "I love you, but we can't do this. We can't have a healthy relationship and a kid. We just can't. We have been r-rubbish parents recently."  
Dad must've not liked to see Mum cry either, because he bent down and held her gently.  
"It's okay, Mari. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for saying that." He looked at her and his eyes glistened, "We need, we need to mend the bad parenting though. Because she deserves beter…I know it sounds horrible, but, maybe, maybe, it's best that Tori moves in with a family who can really take care of her,and we figure ourselves out for a while."

Her Mum sobbed more but nodded.  
"It would be what's best, right?" She shook her head in pain and disbelief.  
"It really would, I think. " It seemed to cause Dad a lot of hurt to say this.  
"Only for a little bit, to heal ourselves?"  
"Yes. Social services will look after her in the process. She'll be back before we know it. And we'll be a happy family."  
Dad cried properly too now, and he screwed his eyes up in an attempt to stop the tears, "Oh god," he realised excruciatingly, "how will we tell Tori?" 

It was liked being punched in the gut. Victoria raced up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door to cover the sound of her choking on an overwhelming amount of tears. She didn't know who the 'social services' were but she knew that probably tomorrow, they were coming to take her away because Mum and Dad didn't love her enough to cope. She collapsed onto her bed and pulled at the sheets and threw a pillow over her mouth as she bawled and screamed and came undone inside.

A good few minutes later, when she'd cried enough for her throat to sting, she thought for a second. No way was she going with strange people to a new family. She should just leave now. Run away. She'd heard people run away on the news. Give Mum and Dad time, and come back in a few months. It wasn't even a big deal, she thought.

Just like that, before she knew it she was stuffing her Hello Kitty duffel bag with extra underwear and sneaking Dad's energy bars and last night's leftover spaghetti out of the kitchen. She was running away. For good. It made her feel a little bit better now she had a plan. If she knew that, standing in her room, preparing to go, that it would be the last time she stood in that room, then perhaps she never would've left. Or at least said goodbye. 

2

Escaping through the front door was easy enough. Mum was cooking with the stove on and, guzzling and bubbling as it heated, and Dad was at the pub, so there was no one there to witness the moment she left her home. 

It was only when she'd got to the end of the road did she fully realise that she didn't know where to go. She found herself walking to the bus stop she took for school, planning to get on the first bus that came. It arrived precisely 367 seconds later, she counted in her head, and as she boarded she received a number of suspicious looks.She pretended to ignore this and sat right at the front of the bus, ready for a quick getaway if necessary. 

She got off 3 stops later, because the number 3 was her lucky number. It was the day of her mum's birthday, and reminded her of when they were all happy and normal, and they went to the park and ate ice cream and went to a proper fancy restaurant for dinner to celebrate a few years ago. This made her feel a little sad, thinking of that, so she pushed the memory aside. 

The minute she got of the bus, she discovered she was standing in front of a trailer park. Perhaps she could find a home here. She heard a commotion to her left and noticed 2 boys, deep in a fist fight, one with a raw, scarlet cut across his face. She found herself staring. "Oi! Get out, priss! This ain't a place for you!" A bystander to the fight yelled in her direction. She didn't feel like explaining to him that she wasn't a priss, so she was just about to leave when she noticed a blonde haired girl looking at her from inside a trailer. The girls' nose was pressed up against the window, and she looked, well, she looked concerned. She even gave a slight wave. She then turned towards the fight, and, in alarm, delicately hopped out of the trailer. She then marched right up to the commotion and pulled the boy with the cut off the other boy.  
"Not worth it." Tori heard her say, before she stalked off, the boy following her. The blonde girl changed route though, and came face to face with her, " Not here. You deserve better." She smiled a little, before turning on her heel, back to the boy. Weirdly, she smelt like…cupcake frosting. Tori agreed with her though. This place wasn't her calling. 

She walked for hours, but couldn't find another park, or friendly stranger's couch or a school she could easily break into. It was getting dark, and she felt the fear settle into her bones. The smell of frosting had well and truly worn off, and Tori began to wonder what she was going to do. Just as she was about to resort to simply sleeping on the street, a policeman turned the corner and was heading towards her. 'Oh no! He'll take me back to Mum and Dad!' She thought, and ran backwards to the nearest alleyway. She walked into it, but it was a dead end with a massive gate, and it wasn't nearly deep enough for the policeman to not see her in it.  
"Psst, brown haired girl!" A small square of the gate opened like a cat flap, and a boy's head stuck out. He had brown, messy hair and urgency in his eyes, "we've been watching you and we think you're one of us! Come quick!" He beckoned into the flap, and Tori didn't hesitate. What she saw behind there was what was soon become one of her favourite places in the whole world. 

It was an antique, abandoned building, that stretched all the way to what appeared to be the sky in height. The building wasn't fully roofed, and the open air rooms were decorated with free posters from newspapers on the thin walls and a series of small, pocket photographs. A small field of yellow grass was tucked behind the building, and logs were turned into benches. Precisely 5 children were perched here, all crunching on identical, slightly gone off apples. 4 boys, 1 with blonde hair and round glasses, 2 brown haired and a ginger, and a girl with golden locks.  
"Welcome," the boy introduced, "to the runaways. This is our hide out. We pool together food and clothes, and keep safe from the police and the social services. What's your name?"  
"My name?" Tori thought about this seriously. Whilst the boy seemed very nice, he was a stranger, so she shouldn't give real personal information to him, she concluded sensibly.  
"Marian." She gave her mum's name instead.  
"Well Marian, meet Leo, Johnnie, Harry, Jay, Rachel and Matt. Guys, Marian is our new runaway. You have run away right?"  
"Yes. Thank you for letting me join," she gave them a half-smile, "And," she turns to the main boy, "what's your name?"  
"Oh." He answers, as if he didn't at all expect the question, "I'm Jack."

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one chapter thing but I can add more if you guys want?


End file.
